Lesson 2
Phonetic Alphabet
The decoder key for the whole course — every romanization in every later lesson uses the tone marks and consonant/vowel readings introduced here.
This course pairs every Thai letter with its own phonetic symbol and an English word that starts (or ends) with the same sound — several letters can share one sound, and this table groups them together the way the source material does.
Initial consonants
| Thai | Phonetic | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| ก | k | sky |
| ข ค ฆ | kh | key |
| จ | c | jet |
| ง | ŋ* | singing |
| ช ฉ ฌ | ch | cheese |
| ซ ส ศ ษ | s | song |
| ย ญ | y | you |
| ด ฎ | d | day |
| ต ฏ | t | stand |
| ถ ท ธ ฐ ฑ ฒ | th | tea |
| บ | b | boy |
| ป | p | spy |
| ผ พ ภ | ph | pie |
| ฝ ฟ | f | fun |
| ห ฮ | h | how |
| น ณ | n | now |
| ม | m | me |
| ร | r | run (a slightly trilled "r") |
| ล ฬ | l | long |
| ว | w | way |
| อ | ʔ | silent (glottal stop) |
Final consonants
* only occurs as a final sound in English. ** pronounced without a released stop.
| Thai | Phonetic | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| น ณ ญ, ร ล ฬ | n | tan |
| ง | ŋ* | king |
| ม | m | dam |
| ย | y | toy |
| ว | w | cow |
| ก ข ค ฆ | k** | back |
| ด ต จ ฎ ฏ, ส ศ ษ ถ ฐ, ท ธ ฒ ช, ซ | t** | flat |
| บ ป | p** | top |
Vowels — short and long
| Short | Long | Sounds like | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ะ | a | -า | aa | far |
| -ิ | i | -ี | ii | me |
| -ึ | ɨ | -ื | ɨɨ | n/a |
| -ุ | u | -ู | uu | moon |
| เ-ะ | e | เ- | ee | day |
| แ-ะ | ε | แ- | εε | fare |
| โ-ะ | o | โ- | oo | so |
| เ-าะ | ɔ | -อ | ɔɔ | law |
| เ-อะ | ə | เ-อ | əə | close to "murder" (drop the "r" sound) |
| -ัวะ | uaʔ | -ัว | ua | sure |
| เ-ียะ | iaʔ | เ-ีย | ia | fear |
| เ-ือะ | ɨaʔ | เ-ือ | ɨa | n/a |
Vowels with an ending sound
| Thai | Phonetic | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| -ำ | a + m = am | mum |
| ไ- / ใ- | a + y = ay | high |
| เ-า | a + w = aw | doubt |